I had been searching all over the internet and through cookbooks for a good low-calorie-density, healthy meatloaf for a long time - or a traditional meatloaf recipe I could modify to be healthier and leaner (Burn the Fat style). I was thinking "ground beef" at first, then I stumbled across this amazing high protein ground turkey meatloaf right in our own Inner Circle forums...

1. Chop your onion, then sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil and set aside to cool.

2.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

3.
Put the rest of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

4. When the onion and garlic sauté is cool enough to touch, add to the bowl as well

5. Mix all the ingredients by hand until well combined. You can add more oatmeal if its still too moist

6. Put the mixture into a lightly oiled (cooking spray) nonstick loaf pan. (Note: If you pack the mixture tightly together and and set firmly into the pan it will be less likely to break when you slice it up for serving).

7. Put pan in the oven and bake at 375 degrees until golden and darkened around the edges; about 40 minutes.

8. Let cool for 5 minutes and enjoy.

16 oz (1 pound) 99% lean ground turkey

1 large onion (approx 5-6 oz, approx 3" dia)

2 tbsp chopped garlic

1 tbsp olive oil

Fresh parsley, finely chopped (approx ¼ cup)

Fresh basil, finely chopped (approx ¼ cup)

Shredded carrot, 1 lg (approx 3.5-4 oz oz / 2/3 cup)

1 raw egg

1/4 cup skim milk

1/2 cup oatmeal, uncooked

1/4 cup low fat parmesan cheese

pinch of salt

dash of pepper

Yield: This batch makes 4 servings

Calories: 261

Protein: 33

Carbs: 16.9

Fat: 7

I was pleasantly surprised and amazed recently to see that the Inner Circle recipe forum has grown to more than 1000 recipes posted by members, since the forum opened.

It appears that we won't have to search far and wide to find new recipe ideas anymore as our own members have become a great source for the best healthy meals anywhere - online or even in popular cookbooks (not to mention that this "official" Burn the Fat recipe department keeps growing).

The best part is, virtually all of our member-submitted recipes are already natural and low in calories (aka "lean and clean"). That's because almost all of our members have read the Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle book and they are health-conscious and calorie-conscious eaters, so they understand how to modify recipes to make them lighter and healthier.

"Out there" on the Internet, you can get lost in a sea of recipes, but it's surprisingly difficult to find recipes that qualify as "clean and lean" and even harder to find recipes that qualify for "bodybuilding nutrition" standards.

This one was submitted by Bonnie (bonns on the forums) and as the first member-submitted recipe to make it into the Burn the Fat official recipes department, it now appropriately bears her name!

Just a quick glance at the ingredients list and I knew I wanted to try it. When I look at ingredients in a traditional recipe I look for where there is excessive calorie density that could be removed to make the meal leaner, (butter that's not needed, too much oil, high fat meats, full fat cheeses, etc).

You can alter almost any traditional recipe without sacrificing flavor, by removing or replacing a few ingredients. Traditional meatloaf is made with ground beef, (and we'll come back to healthy beef meatloaf in a future recipe), but even the leanest ground beef is not as lean as ground turkey, so turkey is a good choice when you want to save on calories.

Ground turkey can be easily found that is 99% fat free, even in regular supermarkets. Oatmeal is used here instead of refined bread, bread crumbs or croutons, which also keeps this recipe nutrient dense and "Burn the Fat Friendly." The oil used is the healthy kind and is used sparingly - only 1 tablespoon of olive oil needed for the whole batch.

With the ingredients listed above, the entire batch comes out to 1044 calories, 132 grams of protein, 67.8 grams of carbs and 28.2 grams of fat. If you split this into four servings you get 33 grams of protein, only 16.9 grams of carbs and 7 grams of fat. That makes this a very low calorie, low carb meal by itself.

You can keep it low carb and serve it with fibrous vegetables like green beans or a salad. Or, you can bump up the calories even more and serve the meatloaf as your protein along with a potato, sweet potato or even rice (that's what I would do for bodybuilding nutrition: meatloaf = lean protein, baked potato = natural starchy carb, green veggie = fibrous carb).

* Tom Venuto, the author of Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle, is a self-confessed "kitchen dummy" who hates to cook and likes everything plain and simple. If a recipe has the "Kitchen Dummy Seal Of Approval," it means that Tom has actually made this himself, and if a "kitchen dummy" like Tom can make it, then anyone can!